The Stars My Destination had its origins in a newspaper clipping that Bester found about a shipwrecked WW II sailor on a raft, who had drifted unrescued in the Pacific for days because passing ships thought he was a lure to bring them within torpedo range of a hidden submarine. From this germ grew the story of Gully Foyle, seeking revenge for his abandonment and causing havoc all about him: a science fiction re-telling of Alexander Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo with teleportation added to the mix. It has been described as an ancestor of cyberpunk. The book is famous for the following line: "Millions for defense, but not a cent for survival."

The Demolished Man is a police procedural in which telepathy is relatively common; a major plot component is an obsessive tune that the protagonist has in his head to block his thoughts from casual scanning. This novel is dedicated to H. L. Gold, the editor of Galaxy, who both published it and made a number of suggestions during its writing. Originally Bester wanted the title to be Demolition!, but Gold talked him out of it.

One of the strengths of these novels is the skill with which Bester integrated his science fiction elements into his future societies.

Bester stopped writing for Astounding when its editor, John Campbell, became obsessed with L. Ron Hubbard and Dianetics, the forerunner to Scientology. He found then in H. L. Gold an editor and a good friend.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, he was chief literary editor of Holiday magazine. After the magazine ceased publication in the early 1970s, Bester returned to science fiction with more short stories and several more novels, although none captured the full brilliance he exhibited in his earlier period.

A radio adaptation of The Stars My Destination was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1991, although this may have been a repeat broadcast. [1] (http://www.miranda-richardson.com/mrsound.html) lists the play as a 60-minute episode, but the original running time was almost certainly 90 minutes.

Bester wrote one mainstream novel in the 1950s, Who He? aka The Rat Race, in which a TV game show host, waking up after an alcoholic blackout, discovers that someone is out to destroy his life.

Notable short stories:

"5,271,009," in which a character is placed within various science-fictional wish-fulfillment scenarios, and discovers the flaw in each (the Last Man on Earth, and no dentists...)

"Fondly Fahrenheit," in which a malfunctioning android becomes murderously violent in hot weather

"The Rollercoaster," written in the '50s, in which there's an unusual, ahead-of-his-time treatment of violence and time travel.

The producer of the first Superman movie sent his son off to search for a writer. The name Alfred Bester came up. Bester wanted to focus the story on Clark Kent as the real hero, while Superman was only "his gun." Bester was devastated when the producer declined to hire an unknown writer and decided to go with Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather.

Bester's other novels include The Computer Connection aka Extro (1975), Golem100 (1980), and The Deceivers (1982).
He died alone and was remembered at a convention that same year. Alfred Bester left everything to his bartender, who was surprised because he didn't even remember Bester.